children accessing porn; adults turning off filterwar

[CMUNSON]

earl young <eayoung at cais.com> wrote some flame bait:
>Were the stacks of the Kansas City libraries as "open" - content-wise - 
>as the Internet?  Did you have easy access to pictures of people having 
>sex with animals, going to the bathroom on each other, or women 
>handcuffed and being whipped?  That stuff is on the Web in quantity. 
>Would you argue that it is the right of children to see such things? 
>Would you assert that such material is helpful in their developing a 
>healthy respect for others - especially women?
     
     
     Pictures Earl? This all about pictures? No, the KC public libraries 
     did not have pictures of the above-mentioned practices, but I can't be 
     sure since I didn't look through all of their books. The libraries 
     probably DID have books which described those practices, mostly likely 
     in the fiction section. I'm sure some of the SF books had some out 
     there stuff, especially during the 70s. I remember reading Harlan 
     Ellison's *Dangerous Visions* in high school. That had some extreme 
     stuff and I was a minor at the time. Thank goodness my local B.Dalton 
     hadn't installed book-purchasing age filters at the time.
     
     Some people who talk to me have the notion that I am a first amendment 
     absolutist. I am not. I am a free speech absolutist. I believe that 
     free speech is a basic universal human right that extends to all 
     people, regardless of age, gender, politics, religion (or lack 
     therof), etc, and cannot be narrowed and defined by any legislative 
     body, constitutional court, jurisdiction, governing body, library 
     board, school principal, or video store. I should be able to watch the 
     Tin Drum in Oklahoma if I want to.
     
     I think Shirl Kennedy demonstrates in her message a good attitude for 
     parents to have. You just can't "protect" you kids from all "bad" 
     information. My parents tried to do that when it came to sex 
     information. Now my siblings and I get even by talking about sex over 
     Thanksgiving dinner. You have to respect kids and their abilities to 
     make sense of the world around them. They have to feel comfortable 
     enough with adults so they can talk about information that might 
     trouble them. Kids are individuals who mature at different rates. It 
     is unfair to them to generalize about them as a class.
     
     I am a children's rights advocate. I find it silly that anybody could 
     determine an age when magically all kids can handle "adult 
     information." What is the proper age for a kid to see breasts for the 
     first time on a video? What is the proper age for a kid to see a movie 
     about war? When is it appropriate for kids to be exposed to McDonalds 
     commercials (which I find highly offensive)? Which scientific evidence 
     are we talking about? If I had kids, I'd rather them see some steamy 
     sex on the tube than the 11 o'clock police blotter report on the local 
     news.
     
     I would argue that some of this controversial stuff helps generate 
     respect for others, although most of it tied to the profit motive. 
     This is not the place to discuss ways to reform the online porn 
     industry. Kids can certainly watch plenty of legal things on the tube 
     that degrade women, or humans for that matter. I think you 
     underestimate the amount of adult material on the web that is put 
     there simply by people who want to share with others of similar 
     interests. There is alot of porn controlled by commercial interests, 
     but most of that has controlled access and requires a credit card to 
     get in.
     
     Lastly, I will point out again an obvious point: material on the web 
     is not broadcast, you have to go find it. It's not like TV where every 
     other minute we get a McDonalds ad trying to entice kids into their 
     stores. If you want bestiality, you gotta go looking for it. I've been 
     on the web since the summer of 93 and it was only recently, when I 
     decided to research this issue, that I finally found some bestiality 
     stuff on the net. I didn't linger long.
     
     So yes, I support children having the same free speech and information 
     access rights as us adults. 
     
     Chuck